Four Years
by Crystal Jaganshi
Summary: Time has come and gone and now Shikamaru and Temari's children are fighting for their Chuunin vests. The real battle however will be if the parents themselves can be victorious in love and life. 3rd part to the Music Box Saga.


So I am Pretty excited for this chapter. It's been sitting in my documents for awhile but i just haven't done anything with it because I wanted to get the wedding oneshot out first. But I couldn't help writing about Gaara Jr and Kumo so here it is! the wedding chapter will be done eventually I'm sure. Also, i need to put the last chapter on Facet and update the Mage of CC. I've been kinda bad about that since I came to college, sorry everyone! I hope you all enjoy this!!!

Four Years Ch 1

Today was the day. The day that every genin was terrified of: the start of the Chuunin exams.

Nara Gaara no Sabaku stared at his breakfast in silence. He looked at the empty seat across from him, the end of the table and then, the head. He stared at the head of the table for a moment when he head the door begin to creak open.

He jumped out of his chair and excitedly and ran for the door

"Tousan!" he cried happily "You're back! I-"

His happiness was short lived as he saw who was coming through the door.

"Jiisan." He said quietly and looked down while his grandfather was at a loss for words. He pulled his grandson into an embrace and Gaara clung onto him tightly. As they pulled away, Gaara rubbed his eyes. He looked up at his grandfather who gave him a soft smile.

"You'll do fine and make all of us, including your mother, proud."

"Thanks." He sniffled. "I'll go get my stuff." He said quietly and Shikaku watched him silently gather his things. He turned and looked at the picture frames mounted on the wall and sighed.

"If only you were both here." He said wistfully looking up at the faces of his son and daughter in law.

They walked down the deserted streets of Konoha in silence. Gaara yawned and stretched, no one could ever guess the loneliness that was expressed earlier that morning. Shikaku's head turned as they heard footsteps run towards them.

"Yo Gaara! What's up man?"

"Hey Inochi." Gaara said turning towards his friend. Gaara had always thought that Inochi was funny. He was a blonde haired chick magnet but still held to the long coat with a high collar that all Aburame's wore, though his collar was a bit lower than the standard Aburame collar. Instead of the small round sunglasses that his father wore, he wore giant aviator ones. While he wasn't the black sheep of the Aburame clan it was funny to see him stylish. However, Ino-basan wouldn't allow him to be any other way.

"Where's Chouza? She should be here by now." He said frowning.

"Right here! I brought breakfast!" They turned to see a brown haired girl with two large pigtails on either side of her head. She wore her usual black cargo pants with a fishnet top underneath a tank top with her family's symbol on it. She wasn't the skinniest girl around but she wasn't fat like most of her family either. She had muscle and that was the only thing that mattered.

Thus, as the team walked together to the examination room, the Shika-Ino-Cho trio was complete and into it's third generation. Shikaku couldn't be more proud at the tradition that he and his two other best friends had begun.

The trio halted at the sight of the building.

"This is where I let you go. Do your best not for your families but for yourselves as ninja. It's okay give in, play to your limits. Extending them to the extreme will only injure your selves and those around you. This is a learning experience for you, don't forget that." Shikaku said to the trio as they stared up at him. "I know that Asuma-sensei would tell you the same."

"Thanks Jichan! We'll totally rock the house!" Chouza said pumping a fist into the air.

"Yeah. We'll smoke em, right Gaara?" Inochi asked and Gaara nodded solemnly.

With that, Chouza turned around to the doors and began to walk foreword and her teammates followed her closely while Shikaku silently prayed for their safety and good fortune.

Inside the hall way was hectic and noisy, something Gaara detested. He liked the other kids from his Genin class but too many people in one place was too much for him, an opinion shared by his father and the uncle he was named for. At a first glance however, he resembled his other uncle more with his light brown hair and chocolate brown eyes. His body was built strong and with all his training he had strong muscles to support them. While he as flexible and in shape however, his main jutsu did not require either of those. The shadow possession jutsu required the strength of the mind, which fortunately he seemed to have somewhat inherited. He came to conclusion early on that he was no genius like his father but he had his mother's intelligence which was close enough. Although, for a genius father and a highly intelligent mother it was a wonder as to how-

His thoughts were cut short and he abruptly ran into Chouza's back.

"What are you doing?" She hissed, whirling around on him as other kids around them began to laugh.

"Whatever." He said rubbing his nose and eyeing the competition. Amongst the crowd in the room he saw Inuzuka-Hyuuga Kimiko, her twin brother Hisashi and their last teammate Yoshi, a relative of Inochi's. He also noticed Uchiha Itachi , Lee Maito, and Hyuuga Yukina, cousin to Kimiko and Hisashi. Gaara looked around some more and noticed people with headbands from the Mist, Rock, Sand- wait Sand! Maybe she was here! It was very possible and highly likely as both of their parent planned on sending them in the exams together from the beginning.

As he looked harder for Sand-nin's a piercing voice shot up above the crowd.

"What did you say about my mother?!"

Gaara turned and saw a team of Sand ninjas in hoods and a team from the Mist next to them who looked rather angry.

"Now you now how it feels. I highly suggest that next time you insult someone's parents, you know all the facts instead of listening to rumors." An icy female tone cut through the room and there was a silence throughout the room. Gaara frowned as two Chuunin came into the room and began seating them. He knew that voice, he was certain! But from where? Deep down, he knew that it was her, it had to be, how could it not? But was he ready to face her after four year of nothing? When would the time come when they could throw their arms around each other and swap stories about their experiences and lives?

He frowned as he took his seat but then shook his head. When it came, it came. Right now he needed to put all of his energy in the test.

The gate guards laughed as they heard though the radio that Ibiki was brought back to begin the Chuunin exams with the test and the dreaded question # 10. Their laughter was short lived however as a shadow enveloped them. They looked up shocked to see a tall and arrogant woman clothed in a black tube top with fishnet covering her torso and arms underneath. She wore a tight skirt that came to her mid thigh and fishnets underneath that went to her knees. In her one ear was a small gold fan, the other a deer. Her sandy blonde hair was tied up in one ponytail and a fan strapped to her back. The most noticeable thing about her though was the necklace around her neck that held 2 gold rings, a small thin one and the other held a sapphire shaped heart with two small diamonds on either side.

"Hello boys, fine weather eh? Here's my visa." She said and handed them a scroll.

One of the guards took it with out taking his eyes off her and quickly scanned the documents out of protocol. He handed it back to her and she thanked them and they stared at her as she walked off, mouths hanging open.

"She's back." One of them said and the other nodded in astonishment.

The female in question walked slowly through the streets of her home. It was odd, she felt for a moment that she had never left as nothing seemed to change. The venders were still in the same spots and there was Ichikaru Ramen. She could just image Naruto sitting there loudly with his friends and she laughed at the thought. She continued to walk slowly, children ran around her, some people stopped and stared, recognizing her. She smiled and waved. Some waved back, some didn't.

As she became closer to the Hokage's tower, more people stopped astonished to see her. When she entered the tower, the receptionist's jaw dropped for a moment but quickly recovered as she smiled and said she could go right up to see the Godaime.

She made her way up nostalgically. How many times had she walked this path? How many times had she walked this path with him? There were to many to count, just the thought of it was making her heart ache.

She stood in front of the door and suddenly she felt like a young jounin again, ready to give a report on the progress of the exams. She knocked on the door quietly, like she always had and she heard the familiar but old voice of the Godaime welcome her in.

She stepped inside and there were more papers around the desk area than she remembered. Here was stll that familiar musty welcoming smell though. She always liked it in contrast to the crisp clear one that her brothers office had. He was the opposite though as usual. He hated the musty smell of his Hokage's office and loved the clean air of her brothers. But that's how they were, always opposite.

The Godiame didn't look a day younger from the last she had seen her but she knew better. Nonetheless, it was nice to see her smooth face and soft smile directed towards her.

"Welcome home Nara-Sabaku no Temari."

"Thank you."

Gaara looked around the room, studying the other genin. This was n interesting set up for sure. Was the first task a written test? Logically, that made the most sense considering the layout of the room. Hmmm.. had his father said anything about this? No, he never told him anything about the exams even though he planned them throughout his Chuunin career.

He noticed Inochi flirting with a kunochi from the Rock and Chouza munching happily on a bag of chips. Whatever this exam entailed, he hoped his teammates would understand what was going on quickly.

There was a poff from the front of the room and Gaara's eye narrowed. He had heard of this jounin. This was Ibiki, a jounin expert on interrogation. Why would they have him proctor a Chuunin exam? Ibiki's introduction told Gaara nothing but that there was a written exam. 10 questions 9 now the last 1 later, 2 planted ninja with the answers, and 5 times allowed to cheat.

That's odd. Why would they allow a certain number of cheats? Unless… Gaara looked down at his paper and saw that he could answer these pretty adequately. He then glanced up at Inochi who caught his eye and smirked. Yes! Inochi had figured it out to, unless Ino-basan told him about the exams. He answered the first problem and waved his pencil slightly in the air. Soon he felt his body go limp and he knew that they were going to pass.

"What brings you back home Temari?" The Godaime asked offering the Suna kunochi a seat.

"Well, Gaara felt that it was time for me to return home and seeing how the exams were here, he figured it would be a good time to give me the ambassador position back." She responded sitting down, handing a scroll to the Godaime.

"I see. How long are you staying?"

There was a slight pause before Temari answered "Hopefully permanently."

The Godaime sighed at the saddened look on the other woman's face and signaled for her guards to leave the room.

After the ninja s left, the Godaime cleared her throat and said "Your husband isn't here right now. He's out on a mission right now and will be for a long time. He has his mask now."

Temari was quiet for a moment and asked "For how long?"

"About a year or two after you left. He's somehow been able to train Gaara at the same time."

"When will the second exam be finished?"

"About tomorrow around 4ish. Of course, if there's too many candidates the we'll have to do an elimination, much like your first round of the exams."

"I see. Well then, in that case I'll be off to say hell to my parents. They don't know I'm here so it will be a nice surprise." She said somewhat cheerily but her face clearly depicted worry.

"Don't worry about Yoshino and Shikaku. They've been helping Shikamaru train him and Yoshino fusses over him all the time saying 'If your mother were here…' They miss you dearly, believe me."

The Sand kunochi smiled wistfully at her and with a alight bow exited the room.

Gaara smirked as he consciously returned to his body, all 9 answers complete. There was still about half an hour left in the exam and already half the room was gone. The genin teams that were his class however were still around so that made him happy. What to do for half an hour? Well, if he were his father he would sleep. Though, in this situation it would make sense. He had to wake up early and he knew that the Forest of Doom, as his father called it, was next. Hmm… so a few zz's wouldn't be so bad….

The next thing Gaara knew was suddenly being jolted awake roughly.

"What?!" he cried shooting up out of his seat to see Inochi laughing his head off and Chouza looking at him concerned.

"Gaara, you missed the 10th question!" She said sternly, obviously crossed.

"What? I did ? Did we pass?" He asked terrified.

"Yes, we'll tell you more about it later." She said hauling him up.

"Oh man! That was great! Basically, there is no 10th question! Okay what happened was that Ibiki was like 'if you fail the 10th question you can't be a Chuunin ever wooooo' all scary like and everything and I was like yeah, lets go for it! So a few more people left and when they did he was like, you pass! And then gave a speech but I do 't remember what it was on." Inochi said scratching his head.

Chouza rolled her eyes and said "Come on! We have to get outside for the 2nd exam!"

"Who's proctoring it?" Gaara asked as they walked toward the exit of the room.

"Uzumaki Naruto." Chouza answered.

"Naruto-san and I missed it?! Aw man!" Gaara said.

"Yeah, he was hilarious! He was like-"

"Boys! Now is not the time! We need to focusing!" Chouza said interrupting them and the two boys sighed.

Chouza was right of course, as usual and as they stood in a group outside the fence. Gaara was determined to see that his team made it though.


End file.
